Tokyo Game Show 2025 was a strange one. Held over four days in September at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, this year's show lacked a major tentpole game to dominate the lineup. But there were strong offerings from Japanese, Chinese, and Western game companies. From Resident Evil Requiem to Ananta to Battlefield 6, TGS offered plenty of great new titles to get excited about.
TGS is one of my favorite annual game expos. Always crackling with energy, the two business days and two public days feel like a true celebration of gaming ー with tons to play, immersive booths, top-level cosplayers, and gamers of all generations coming together in the sweaty Makuhari Messe halls.
For us at IGN Japan, TGS meant four days and over 20 hours of real-time livestreamed coverage from the show floor, plus written impressions and gameplay videos of dozens of games. And as interest grows around the world in games from Japan and Asia, we were joined by colleagues from IGN editions in the United States, China, Korea, Brazil, France and Germany. Our little studio space was packed with busy journalists.
Popular Games
One of the most popular games for our audience was Ananta. This upcoming game from Chinese publisher NetEase blends the open-world freedom of Grand Theft Auto with the fun traversal and combat of Insomniac's Spider-Man games. But it incorporates a gorgeous anime visual style that boasts slick animation, OTT set pieces and madcap humor.
The demo I played at Ananta's crowded TGS booth was insanely exciting. And when we invited the game developers to join us on our TGS livestream for an on-air playthrough, we got our highest concurrent viewership numbers of the whole week.
The long-awaited Grand Theft Auto VI is slated for a May 26, 2026 release, and Ananta for mid-2026. The latter game will be completely free to play, though, so it will be interesting to see how the two open-world behemoths square up next year.
Capcom Hits
Capcom brought several of the show's top hitters, with games like Resident Evil Requiem, Pragmata, Onimusha: Way of the Sword and Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection taking top billing on the Osaka giant's booth. I was particularly impressed by my hands-on time with the Switch 2 version of Requiem, which looks as fantastic on Nintendo's new handheld as it does on PlayStation 5.
But for us, the best-performing Capcom game was Street Fighter 6, with our gameplay video featuring newly added character C. Viper becoming our most-viewed standalone video of TGS.
Sega Announcements
Sega repeated its annual feat of announcing a brand-new Like a Dragon game the day before TGS and immediately having a playable demo on the show floor. This time it was Dark Ties, a brand-new spinoff from 2009's Yakuza 3, which itself is getting a new remake titled Yakuza Kiwami 3. The two games will be bundled together when they are released on February 12, 2026.
While Yakuza Kiwami 3 will bring the original game to a whole new audience as a remake, its spinoff, Dark Ties, follows side character Yoshitaka Mine and his descent into the criminal underworld. It's a fascinating way to breathe new life into a classic game.
The Like a Dragon series (originally known as Yakuza) has become hugely popular around the world these past few years. And the team at RGG Studio somehow manage to deliver at least one new game or remake per year, so Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties are sure to find a welcoming audience.
New Ghosts
PlayStation showed a playable demo of its upcoming Ghost of Yotei. This sequel to 2020's Ghost of Tsushima is another samurai simulator. It follows not only the first game but also recent feudal Japan-set games like Assassin's Creed Shadows and Rise of the Ronin.
Made by US-based studio Sucker Punch Productions, the game was released shortly after TGS and was well reviewed. However, since the release date was so close, it felt like a weak headliner for PlayStation's TGS lineup, with fighting game Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls a more interesting feature at the booth.
Online Announcements
Nintendo never exhibits at TGS, and Xbox rarely has a booth. But both platform-holders held online showcases timed to coincide with TGS (as did PlayStation).
Of these, one of the most exciting announcements was Forza Horizon 6. This long-rumored new entry in Microsoft's excellent racing series will be set in Japan, which fans have been requesting for years. Indeed, for all the drama surrounding Assassin's Creed Shadows' release earlier this year, Japan is still a hot setting for games.
And since each new entry never fails to offer exhilarating racing through the landscapes of its host country, from Australia to the United Kingdom to Mexico, a Japan-based Forza Horizon game is an exciting prospect. Details are still scarce, but you can expect a mix of countryside roads, landmarks like Mount Fuji, and Tokyo Drift-style action through busy city streets.
Also, despite being made by Microsoft, the game will be released not only on Xbox and PC, but also PlayStation 5. Players in Japan are holding their breath for a Switch 2 version. But whatever happens, this will likely be the biggest entry in the series to date.
More Demos and Collaborations
Koei Tecmo also had plenty to show, from demos for the upcoming Nioh 3 and Ninja Gaiden 4 to its Nintendo collaboration Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. The latter fills in some of the back story from 2023's highly acclaimed The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Although it is being produced in partnership with PlatinumGames and Koei Tecmo's Team Ninja, Ninja Gaiden 4 will be published by Microsoft. Its head of gaming, Phil Spencer, was in attendance at TGS to play Ninja Gaiden 4's latest demo on the show floor. Phil also stopped by the IGN Japan livestream studio for a detailed interview about the latest Xbox announcements.
Konami, meanwhile, celebrated the September 25 release of its highly rated new game Silent Hill f with a cool yet spooky booth display. They included cosplayers portraying the monstrous schoolgirl creature Ayakakashi and a lifelike statue of the game's deadly Shrine Maiden.
This was in stark contrast to the cute display for Konami's upcoming family game Momotaro Dentetsu 2: Anata no Machi Mokittoaru on the opposite corner of their booth. Either way, it's great to see Konami on a roll this past year, building on the success of its Silent Hill 2 remake with the brand new Silent Hill f, as well as a warmly received remake of Metal Gear Solid 3.
Traditional and Indie Games
We also saw more traditional shooter games than usual at TGS this year, with Electronic Arts showcasing its upcoming Battlefield 6 and Battlestate Games showing a new update for its popular tactical shooter Escape from Tarkov. Both series have a strong fan base in Japan.
Oh yeah, and once again the Love and Deepspace booth offered gamers a chance to meet the game's hunky boyfriends face to face, proving just as outrageously popular as it was at gamescom and other overseas events.
And as usual, the Indie Game Area provided a chance to find your new favorite game.
Highlights for me this year included No Straight Roads 2, a colorful sequel to the music-based action game from 2020; Shrink Rooms, a fiendishly difficult puzzle game dripping in dark humor; Motorslice, a platform-action game whose inventive boss battles borrow heavily from Shadow of the Colossus; Kotama&Academy Citadel, a fast-tempo Metroidvania with cool sci-fi design; and Thanks, Light, a smart puzzle-platform game where players manipulate light sources to progress through the darkness. And there were way too many more to mention.
Watch For Extra Day in 2026
TGS had a record number of exhibitors this year, with 1,136 companies participating from 47 countries and regions. Attendance on the two business days, too, was greatly increased, with a total of 107,131 attendees over the two days – around 20,000 more than 2024. Between the increased number of booths and the extra bodies, the business days felt packed, and I was happy to see a lot of friends from the game industry visiting TGS for the very first time this year.
However, the public days had lower attendance than in 2025 with 155,970 visitors over the two weekend days, some 31,500 less than 2024. I'm not entirely sure why this is, because the public tickets were sold out. Perhaps the increased number of exhibitors (and by extension, the reduced floor space) caused the organizers to limit the number of public visitors to avoid overcrowding.
Hopefully this problem will be solved next year. Marking the 30th anniversary of TGS, the show will be held for an additional day for the first time ever. It will have two business days and three for the public, giving everyone an extra chance to check out the latest in Japan's game scene. Since the dates will lead into a public holiday, it's sure to be a busy show, so start limbering up now!
RELATED:
- Covering gamescom – Direct From the Show Floor
- Tokyo Game Show 2024 Flaunts Its International Reach
- BitSummit the 13th Brings Magic and Surprises from the Indie Game World
Author: Daniel Robson
Daniel Robson is the Executive Producer of IGN Japan. Follow his series, Gamer's World, on JAPAN Forward.
